Library’s lot

The community has enjoyed years of plentiful parking at the main branch of the library at Salem Square.

But there are rarely enough library patrons to fill the McGrath municipal parking lot with cars.

Along comes the draft master plan for a Theatre District encompassing the library and YWCA next door. Developed by Worcester Business Development Corp. and the city, the plan promises vibrant downtown renewal.

The McGrath lot could be left to provide visitors a place to park. Instead, the plan maintains adequate parking for the library and YWCA while suggesting the back part of the reconfigured lot be developed.

Other parking could include a garage off Myrtle, and angled parking on Portland and Salem streets.

So far, so good. The question is, what to develop on the McGrath lot, whose acreage, according to the report, “impedes the development opportunity of the broader Theatre District, isolates the Worcester Public Library and YWCA, and creates negative perceptions within the area.”

The report mentions ice-skating. Early returns suggest that may be frozen out, but many ideas from a Jan. 15 forum at the library are appealing: playground, amphitheater, green space, food-truck area.

The various parts of the master plan won’t flourish in isolation; they aren’t designed to. With regard to the McGrath municipal parking lot, the key thing to remember is that any new use would enhance the area. Library patrons will be able to park easily and go in, maybe passing a new café/bookstore that would resemble the glass-enclosed café in Post Office Square Park in Boston.

Something good will be added to the library’s lot. We just don’t know what, yet.